EWTN portal reports that Belarusian authorities have intensified their persecution of the Catholic Church by refusing to renew the residency permits of numerous long-serving Polish priests, effectively expelling them from the country. The article details how, in recent months, priests from the Dioceses of Pinsk, Vitebsk, and the Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev—some of whom had ministered for decades—were forced to leave. Metropolitan Archbishop Iosif Staneuski of Minsk-Mohilev acknowledged the growing clergy shortages in a May 28 interview with Vatican News, warning that some priests must now travel hundreds of kilometers to serve multiple parishes. The article traces the roots of this crackdown to the disputed 2020 reelection of President Alexander Lukashenko and the subsequent anti-government protests, during which Catholic churches sheltered activists and senior clergy publicly condemned state violence. The piece also notes the geopolitical dimension, highlighting accusations from Russian intelligence that the United States uses Belarusian Catholic communities to foment unrest, as well as the Church’s long-standing ties to Poland, which Minsk views as a political liability. The expulsion of these priests is not merely an administrative inconvenience but a calculated act of persecution against the Catholic faith by a regime that recognizes no authority above its own will.
The Persecution of the Church: A Sign of the Times
The expulsion of Polish priests from Belarus by the Lukashenko regime is a stark reminder of a truth that the conciliar Church has systematically obscured: the world hates Christ and His Church. Our Lord Himself warned us: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you… If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:18–20). The Belarusian government’s refusal to renew residency permits for priests who have faithfully served their flocks for decades is not a neutral administrative act—it is a deliberate act of persecution against the Catholic faith, designed to weaken the Church’s pastoral presence and sever the faithful from the sacraments. That these priests held parish leadership and deanery-level roles makes their expulsion all the more devastating, as it leaves entire communities without the shepherds appointed to guide them toward eternal salvation.
What is conspicuously absent from the EWTN article’s framing, however, is any recognition that this persecution flows from the same anti-Christian spirit that animates the conciliar revolution itself. The Lukashenko regime, like all modern states, operates on the principle condemned by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors: “The State, as being the origin and source of all rights, is endowed with a certain right not circumscribed by any limits” (Proposition 39). When the state claims the authority to permit or forbid the preaching of the Gospel, the administration of the sacraments, or the residence of priests within its borders, it usurps a prerogative that belongs to God alone. As Pope Pius IX declared in his letter to the Bishops of Prussia: “These laws are null and void because they are absolutely contrary to the divine constitution of the Church”—for “no power in the world, however great it can be, can deprive of the pastoral office those whom the Holy Ghost has made Bishops in order to feed the Church of God.” The Belarusian government’s claim to regulate the presence of priests through residency permits issued by the Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs is an exercise of the very “indirect negative power over religious affairs” condemned by Pius IX in Proposition 41 of the Syllabus.
The Silence About the True Source of Authority
The article quotes Metropolitan Archbishop Iosif Staneuski as saying that “the Catholic Church has no borders and that differences in language, nationality, or skin color are no obstacle to Christian ministry.” While this sounds edifying on the surface, it betrays a fundamentally naturalistic and conciliar ecclesiology. The true Church indeed has no borders—but not because it embraces a vague, borderless humanitarianism. The Church has no borders because her authority comes from Christ the King, who declared: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18), and who commissioned His Apostles to “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). The Church’s universality is rooted not in the erasure of distinctions but in the supremacy of divine law over every human jurisdiction. As Pope Pius XI taught in Quas Primas: “His reign extends not only to Catholic nations… but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” When Archbishop Staneuski speaks of the Church having “no borders” without anchoring this truth in the royal dignity of Christ, he reduces the Church to a humanitarian NGO—precisely the error the conciliar sect has propagated since 1958.
Furthermore, the archbishop’s appeal to Vatican News—a mouthpiece of the conciliar apparatus—and his implicit recognition of the authority of the antipope in Rome reveals the tragic reality: the very hierarchy that should be resisting persecution is itself compromised by its submission to a counterfeit magisterium. The “Vatican” with which Belarusian authorities conduct talks, and which the article cites as a source of hope for the release of imprisoned priests, is not the Holy See as it existed for nearly two millennia. It is the seat of a line of usurpers beginning with John XXIII, who convened the anti-council Vatican II and set in motion the systematic dismantlement of the Church’s doctrinal, liturgical, and disciplinary heritage. The “pardon” of two Catholic priests mentioned in the related article is presented as a fruit of talks with this usurper—as though the conciliar sect possessed any legitimate authority to negotiate on behalf of the true Church.
The Conciliar Sect’s Complicity in Persecution
The EWTN article notes that the Belarusian Catholic hierarchy “in line with the Vatican” repeatedly called for peace after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, placing the Church at odds with the Lukashenko government. This framing is deeply misleading. The conciliar sect’s calls for “peace” are not the peace of Christ—“the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ” (Pius XI, Quas Primas)—but the false peace of diplomatic accommodation with the enemies of God. The true peace of Christ demands the submission of all nations to His divine law, not dialogue with regimes that trample on human dignity and persecute the faithful. As the Syllabus of Errors condemns: “The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (Proposition 80)—a proposition that perfectly describes the conciliar sect’s posture toward the modern world.
The article also mentions that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, described as a “practicing Catholic,” raised concerns about human rights violations with “Pope” Leo XIV at the Vatican on May 27. This is a telling detail. The Nobel Peace Prize is an award given by the enemies of Christ to those who advance the agenda of the world—and its recipients are invariably promoters of the very errors condemned by the pre-conciliar Magisterism. That a “practicing Catholic” would seek the audience of an antipope to address political grievances, rather than turning to the immutable teaching of the Church on the duties of rulers and subjects, reveals the depth of the confusion sown by the conciliar revolution. As Pope Pius IX taught: “The teaching of the Catholic Church is hostile to the well-being and interests of society” (Proposition 40)—not because the Church opposes genuine human flourishing, but because the world defines “well-being” in terms that exclude God and His law.
The Geopolitical Dimension: A War Against Catholic Civilization
The article correctly identifies the geopolitical dimension of the persecution: Belarus’s close alignment with Moscow, Poland’s outspoken criticism of the Lukashenko regime, and the Catholic Church’s long-standing ties to Poland. Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Chief Sergey Naryshkin’s accusation that the United States uses Belarusian Catholic communities to foment unrest is presented in the article without sufficient critical distance. Whatever the truth of these specific claims, the broader pattern is clear: the Catholic Church, wherever she remains faithful to her divine mission, is viewed as a threat by every regime that refuses to submit to Christ the King.
This is precisely what Our Lord foretold. The persecution of the Church is not an aberration but a consequence of the fundamental conflict between the City of God and the City of Man. As Pope Pius XI declared in Quas Primas: “The plague of our times is the so-called laicism, its errors and wicked endeavors”—a plague that began with “the denial of Christ the Lord’s reign over all nations” and progressed until “states thought they could do without God and that their religion was impiety and contempt for God.” The Lukashenko regime’s expulsion of Polish priests is not an isolated incident but a manifestation of this global apostasy. Whether the persecutor is a communist dictator in Belarus, a liberal democrat in the West, or an antipope in Rome, the root cause is the same: the rejection of the social reign of Christ the King.
The Belarusian government’s suspicion of the Church’s “cross-border links” to Poland is particularly revealing. The state views religious and cultural connections that transcend national boundaries as a “political liability”—because a state that claims absolute sovereignty cannot tolerate a higher loyalty. The Catholic Church, by her very existence, testifies that there is an authority above the state, a law above human law, a King above all earthly princes. This is why every totalitarian regime—from the Roman Empire to the Soviet Union to modern Belarus—has sought to either destroy the Church or domesticate her. The conciliar sect, by embracing the principles of religious liberty (condemned by Pius IX in Propositions 15, 77, and 78 of the Syllabus) and separation of Church and State (condemned in Proposition 55), has in effect capitulated to the very principles that enable persecution.
The Crisis of Vocations and the Failure of the Conciliar Church
Archbishop Staneuski’s acknowledgment that the most sustainable solution to Belarus’s clergy shortage is the development of “local vocations” is a tacit admission of the failure of the conciliar Church’s missionary strategy. For decades, the conciliar sect has promoted a vision of the Church that is indistinguishable from secular humanitarianism—a Church without dogma, without sacrifice, without the cross. And now it wonders why men do not answer the call to the priesthood? As Pope Pius XI warned: “If men were ever to recognize Christ’s royal authority over themselves, both privately and publicly, then unheard-of blessings would flow upon the whole society.” But the concilar sect has systematically denied Christ’s royal authority—replacing the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with a “table of assembly,” replacing the preaching of the Gospel with interfaith dialogue, and replacing the call to repentance with the celebration of man.
The result is precisely what we see in Belarus and throughout the world: a catastrophic decline in vocations, the closure of parishes, and the abandonment of the faithful to their fate. The Belarusian Church’s dependence on foreign priests—and the state’s ability to expel them at will—is a direct consequence of the conciliar Church’s failure to form local clergy rooted in the unchanging faith. Where the true Church flourishes, vocations abound, because the faithful understand that the priesthood is not a profession but a participation in the eternal priesthood of Christ, and that the Mass is not a communal meal but the unbloody renewal of the sacrifice of Calvary. The concilar sect has obscured both of these truths, and the faithful are paying the price.
The Duty of the Faithful: Resistance and Fidelity
The persecution of the Catholic Church in Belarus demands more than sympathy—it demands action rooted in the unchanging principles of the faith. The first duty of the faithful is to pray for the persecuted Church, for the expelled priests, and for the conversion of their persecutors. But prayer must be accompanied by a clear understanding of the nature of the conflict. This is not a political dispute between the Belarusian government and the Catholic Church; it is a spiritual battle between the forces of Christ and the forces of Satan.
The faithful must reject the false narrative promoted by the concilar sect and its media outlets, which frame persecution as a “human rights” issue rather than a consequence of the world’s hatred of Christ. As Pope St. Pius X warned in Lamentabili Sane Exitu, the modernist error consists in reducing supernatural truths to natural categories—treating the faith as a matter of historical development, social progress, or political negotiation rather than as the immutable deposit of divine revelation. The Belarusian crisis exposes the bankruptcy of this approach: when the state claims absolute power over the Church, no amount of dialogue, diplomacy, or “human rights” advocacy will suffice. What is needed is the restoration of the social reign of Christ the King—the recognition, by individuals, families, and states, that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and that His law is the foundation of all just governance.
The expelled Polish priests, whatever their personal fidelity to the traditional faith, operate within structures that are themselves compromised by the conciliar revolution. The Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev, like all post-conciliar dioceses, is subject to an antipope and a hierarchy that has embraced the errors condemned by the pre-conciliar Magisterium. This does not mean that their pastoral work is without value—validly ordained priests confer valid sacraments regardless of their canonical status—but it does mean that the structures within which they operate are not the true Church. The faithful in Belarus, as everywhere, must seek out priests who are faithful to the unchanging doctrine, the true Mass, and the integral discipline of the Church—even if this means separating from the conciliar structures entirely.
As Pope Pius IX declared: “The Church ought not to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” is a proposition that the world rejects and the conciliar sect has effectively embraced. The persecution in Belarus is the fruit of this separation—the inevitable consequence of a world that has expelled God from public life and now wonders why tyranny flourishes. The only remedy is the one proposed by Pius XI: “the return to obedience… among many of those who, having scorned the reign of the Redeemer, have become exiles from His Kingdom.” Until nations recognize Christ as King—until Belarus, Poland, Russia, and every other state submits to His divine law—persecution will continue, and the blood of martyrs will continue to cry out from the ground.
Adveniat regnum Tuum. Thy Kingdom come.
Source:
Belarus expels Polish priests as pressure on the Catholic Church intensifies (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 09.06.2026